My Second Friend
by F91
Summary: Fate tries to settle into her new life but can't shake the fear that history will repeat itself. Will a new friend be able to help her through it?


"Ah, that was a great workout!" Arf said before taking a content swig of her soda. "Nothing like spending the day working up a sweat, eh Fate?"

"Yeah." Fate nodded, letting her own cold beverage flow down her throat. The morning training session with Arf had worked up quite the thirst which she was currently quenching. Other than train, Fate didn't exactly have much else to do on the Athra besides sitting around, awaiting the trail that would determine her future.

She had been told things would work out just fine, but she wasn't so sure about that. She had willingly followed her mother as the woman did unspeakable things, and would probably still be doing similar things if her mother had accepted her. Would the jury really take sympathy on such a person?

Perhaps the biggest worry on her mind was if things would be different from before. By all rights they should be, seeing as how Fate was now surrounded by people who expressed care for her well being and didn't brandish a whip whenever she did something wrong.

But would it really last? Fate recalled a similar period in her life where she had some one to care for her. Linith had always been kind to her, teaching her gently and reassuring her that she was loved, but that time had been fleeting. Linith eventually vanished and Fate was left at the mercy of her deranged mother. Would history repeat itself?

The present situation had Fate thinking it already had. Arf was the only one by her side, but the loyal familiar was always there. It was the others that had been scarce lately.

At first Chrono used to train with her all the time. She was never a match from him, and he'd defeat her soundly, rubbing salt on her with a cool quip he had prepared. The boy always seemed to keep his distance from her, though. He was rather blunt and, frankly, very cold. While he wasn't as cold as Precia had been, it still had Fate thinking that perhaps he didn't like her very much. This was only reinforced by the fact she hadn't seen him lately. Was he just avoiding her or was his work keeping him too busy?

Fate hadn't been in contact with Lindy much either. The older woman had expressed kindness before, but every time Fate would called her, asking if perhaps they could eat together, the captain would smile apologetically and say she had far too much work piled up on her desk to make time. Eventually Fate stopped asking, not wanting to bother Lindy if she was truly that busy.

It really did feel like they were going disappear from her life like Linith had. But while Linith disappeared because her time was up, what if the Harlaowns were going because they didn't want to be around her anymore? What if they had simply pitied her at first, but quickly got sick of her? If that were true, it would only be her and Arf again, but even then if the trial didn't go well, Fate could be separated from the familiar as well.

But there was still Nanoha, the Earth girl who had saved her and called her 'friend.' Fate always had the video mails the other girl would send her, and they never failed to make her happy. However, there was still that doubt that gnawed at her. What if Nanoha got sick of her as well? It was usually several weeks between letters, and during that time Fate would always dread that another letter would never come.

"Fate, what's the matter?" Arf prodded worriedly, noticing her master's eyes watering.

"Uh? Oh." Fate rubbed her eyes, having not realized that she was on the verge of crying. "It's nothing; I guess I'm just a little more tired than I thought."

"Are you sure that's all?" Arf asked sceptically. She could tell her creator was dealing with some painful emotions, but the humanoid canine was unable to do anything unless the girl was willing to talk about it.

"Yes Arf, I'm sure." She gave a soft smile and patted the familiar's hair, but Arf wasn't convinced. Fate squirmed a bit under her inquisitive gaze and she tried to think of a way to alleviate her companion's suspicions.

"There you are!" A new voice called and Fate turned to see a blond haired, green eyed boy about her age approaching them. She recognised him immediately as the one that had always been with Nanoha. She had first seen him as a ferret, but this was his true form. Fate recalled his name was…

"Yuuno!" Arf said first, going over to the boy and severely ruffling his hair. "It's been a while! Didn't you stay back on Earth? What are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too, Arf." Yuuno chuckled softly, putting his hair back in order. "You as well, Fate."

"Uh, you too." Fate said dumbly. She had never talked with him before, so she had no idea what approach she should take in dealing with him. Most of their encounters had been as enemies on the battlefield, but if he was a friend of Nanoha's, then he couldn't be a bad person.

"To answer your question…" Yuuno turned back to Arf. "Chrono called me back so I could be on hand for whenever they need me to speak at the trial."

At the mention of the trial, Fate cast her gaze downwards enough for Yuuno to notice it.

"Ah, it'll be in your defence, of course!" He quickly said. "All I have to do is tell the truth and you'll be just fine, I'm sure!"

"Well, thank you…" Fate said. The three of them stood in silence a moment, none of them sure where to go from there.

"Um… Have you two had lunch yet?" Yuuno finally asked and the females shook their heads in response. They were quite hungry after their workout. "Then let's all go eat together!"

"Are you sure that's ok?" Fate asked. "Don't you have lots of work to do as well?"

"Me? Oh, no!" Yuuno waved his hands in front of him. "I really don't have anything to do aside from testifying, so I was thinking I could hang out with you two… if that's ok…"

"Of course it's ok!" Arf cheered, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "The more the merrier, right Fate?"

"Uh, yeah." Fate smiled softly. "That would be great."

"Ok then." Yuuno smiled back. "Then once we're done eating, we can watch this." He pulled out a DVD from his pocket and offered it to Fate. "Nanoha told me to deliver this to you."

Fate's heart fluttered as she took the disk, grateful it meant she would still be receiving them. "Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome."

X-X-X

After having their meal in the Athra's cafeteria, the three made their way to Fate's room. While by every right she should have been thrown in the brig, Fate was glad she got to sleep in a bed. She popped the disk into the player and Nanoha's face appeared in the air.

_"Heya, Fate-chan!" _She said cheerfully. _"I'm sure this letter finds you well! I know the big day of your trial is come up soon, and I hope you're not too nervous! Both Chrono-kun and Lindy-san have assured me that everything will go well, so have faith! And now that Yuuno-kun is there will you, I'm extra sure that it will be just fine! He's a really nice and capable person, so you can be sure to depend on him! I know you two will get along great!"_

Fate cast a glance at the boy, who blushed and scratched his cheek at the praise.

_"I can't wait until I get to see you all again! I'm getting along just fine on my end. Just the other day Alisa-chan and Suzuka-chan…"_

X-X-X

After viewing the rest of the video and sending out the reply, once again the trio found themselves wondering what to do next.

"Did you two have anything planned?" Yuuno asked.

"We were probably just going to train some more," Arf said. "But I think Fate's too tired…"

"I'm fine now after taking a break," Fate said with a slight smile. "So I could go for more training. It's not like there's much else to do…"

"I guess that's true," Arf said. "But…"

"Well then, if you'll excuse us…" Fate said with a small bow to Yuuno.

"Ah, if it's okay, could I join you?" He asked.

"Huh?" Fate blinked. From what she knew the boy wasn't particularly combat orientated.

"I could use the work out and I was just thinking maybe it would be good to practise with some one new," he said. "I'm definitely not as capable as you are, but I might be able to help you out some. That is, if you don't mind of course…"

"I… I guess I'm okay with it," Fate said. "But I'm sure there are other things you'd rather do, so…"

"Not really," Yuuno said with a smile. "I want to spend more time with the two of you."

"Are you sure…?"

"Er, well, if you don't want to…"

"That's not it…"

"Okay, that's enough of that!" Arf threw her arms over the shoulders of the two smaller ones. "It would be great if you joined us, Yuuno. Let's all three of us work hard together, okay?"

"O-Okay," the other two said.

They all filed into the ship's practise area and set up their barrier jackets.

"Since I've gone up against Yuuno before," Arf said. "Fate, I think you should have a one on one with him."

"Fine with me," Yuuno said. "I'll be in your care, Fate."

"Likewise…" If Fate recalled, his expertise was bind and barrier magic but she didn't think she'd have problems breaking those. Since he had no offensive spells she wondered how it would be much of a match…

"All righty then!" Arf moved to the side lines and pumped a fist into the air. "If you're both ready… GO!"

Fate started things off by expanding the distance with a jump and quickly fired her Photon Lancers at Yuuno. Yuuno's hand quickly formed some hand seals and the lancers bounced harmlessly off his barrier.

'His casting speed is incredible… and he doesn't even have a device!' Fate's surprised blinded her to the glowing chain that appeared to her left. She noticed in time to avoid most of the snare, but it wrapped around her wrist.

Bardiche snapped into scythe mode and she slashed through the chains, enabling her to fly up and avoid the other binds that shot out at her.

"I thought this while watching your fights with Nanoha, but you really are super fast, aren't you Fate?" Yuuno said with a note of admiration. "Then there's your lighting affinity too… You're amazing."

"T-Thank you," she said. "I am also impressed with how you can cast spells so quickly without the aid of a device."

"Oh it's nothing special…" Yuuno chuckled sheepishly.

"Come on you two, you're supposed to be practising!" Arf said.

"Right, let's resume." Fate considered her opponent and what her next move should be. If she had any hope to getting through that barrier, she'd need to hit it with the strongest attack at her disposal.

She nimbly avoided some more bind attempts and positioned herself high in the air. She raised Bardiche and many yellow orbs appeared around her.

"Wah, Fate, you're really going to use that already?" Arf said with a gasp.

"Photon Lancer," Fate said. "Phalanx Shift!"

"Oh boy…" Yuuno put out his arms and raised his defences. The hail of lighting descended upon him and hid him in a large blast cloud. The pelting stopped and Fate raised her hand to gather energy into a long spear.

"Spark…" Fate hurled the spear into the middle of the cloud, making a huge explosion that would have rocked the ship had it not been for the room's safety features. "End."

"I hope Yuuno survived that…" Arf gulped as she scanned the field.

"That should have been enough to break his shield and take him out of the battle…" Fate said as she took some heavy breaths. Her eyes widened when she saw Yuuno stumbled out of the dust, coughing repeatedly.

"That was some attack," He said. "I barely blocked it all."

"H-How did that not work?" Fate asked dumbly. Not even Nanoha just shrugged it off like that. With Chrono he usually defeated her before she could pull out more powerful spells and as frustrating as that was, it felt worse having all her power rendered ineffective like that.

Rather than float there gawking, Fate decided to resume her offensive straight away. If power didn't work she'd rely on her speed.

"Thunder Smasher!" Fate shot out a blast and, as expected, Yuuno put up a shield to block it. Before the attack dissipated Fate was already on the move, flying around the boy to his unprotected side. Yuuno barely had time to shift his body before Bardiche was swung. "Scythe Slash!"

The blow connected and Yuuno was sent flying across the room with a scream before crashing into the artificial terrain. Fate felt glad about her victory until a few moments passed where Yuuno did not get up.

'Oh no!' She thought as she ran to him. 'His barriers might be tough but he isn't! Stupid! Stupid! He's not like Chrono! I shouldn't have been so focused on winning and held back… I messed up! He's going to be mad at me, isn't he? He'll start hating me and go away and maybe the others will go with him and…"

"Owie…" Yuuno finally sat up with a groan. "That was really something…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fate kneeled down next to him and closed her eyes to brace herself for the punishment that was coming. "I didn't mean to…"

"Ah, don't worry about it, Fate." Yuuno held out his hands and patted the air in front of him. "I'm fine, no harm done. There's no reason to cry."

Fate wiped at the eyes she didn't realise had been watery.

"You're… You're not mad?"

"Of course not." He smiled. "Rather than scold you I want to praise you for an excellent manoeuvre. It was my fault for not being skilled enough to react quicker."

"But…"

"Wow Yuuno, you're made of sterner stuff than I thought," Arf said with a wry smile. "But maybe we should take you to the infirmary and get you checked out just in case?"

"No, I'm fine, really." Though he said that, Yuuno's smile was clearly pained. "It's something I can just walk off."

Arf wondered if she should press the issue or not. On the one hand he was obviously injured, but on the other hand it was clear he was trying to act like it was nothing to spare Fate's feelings.

"Please don't push yourself…" Fate dispelled her barrier jacket and slung one of Yuuno's arms over her shoulders to support him. "You should let them have a look at you…"

"Well… Okay…" Yuuno sighed as they slowly walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Fate kept muttering that under her breath. 'He might be acting like this but he'll probably never want to spend time with me again…'

"You don't have to be sorry," he said. "I'm sure I'll be better in no time, so let's train together again tomorrow!"

"Eh?" Fate stared dumbly at him. "But I…"

"It's not your fault, Fate," he said. "Stuff like this happens in training all the time. We just have to be more careful next time, okay?"

"O-Okay…" For some reason Fate felt incredibly relieved to hear him say that.

X-X-X

By the next day Yuuno had recovered and did indeed join the girls for another round of training. However instead of taking part in more mock battles he opted to stand back and help the other two refine their skills.

Several days of this passed but while Fate enjoyed the additional company she still kept her distance. Part of her said that those around her could disappear or turn on her at any moment and that it would only hurt more if she opened up to them.

"Okay, I'm sure you already know this," Yuuno said as Arf and Fate squared off. "But barriers spread magic omnidirectionally and protect you from all angles. The trade off is that since the magic is spread out it's not as strong. Shields, on the other hand, only protect you from one direction but are stronger because the magic is more concentrated. It's important to pick the best defence for different kinds of attacks. There's a trick I learned to help make defence spells even stronger. It requires some luck but I bet experienced fighters like you two can master it in no time."

"What is it?" Arf asked.

"Predict where your opponent will strike and focus your magic on that point," he said. "Give it a try, Fate."

Fate nodded and put up a shield. She nodded again to Arf who dashed forward and threw a punch. Fate watched the fist carefully and calculated its likely trajectory before pumping more magic into that spot. Arf's punch connected right on target and after a moment of struggle Arf was repelled back.

"That was perfect!" Yuuno said. "Great job, Fate."

"T-Thank you."

Yuuno turned to Arf and something seemed to pass between them.

"Okay, let's do it one more time," he said.

They repeated the process however this time before it connected Arf pulled her fist back and shot out with the other one, catching the edge of the shield. To Fate's surprise that part of the shield shattered, but Arf didn't follow through on it.

"Just keep in mind that if you guess wrong, you could be in big trouble," Yuuno said.

"I understand," Fate said. "Thank you for the lesson. I can see how Nanoha became so good with a teacher like you."

"Ah, well…" Yuuno flushed. "I only showed her the basics so I can't really take credit… Her skill comes from her natural talent and her hard work. I had little to do with it."

"Basics are important," Fate said with a shake of her head. "That's what my teacher taught me…"

"Who was your teacher?" Yuuno asked.

Fate said nothing.

"Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have asked…" Yuuno lowered his head.

Silence permeated until a low grumble slice through.

"Ahaha, sorry, that was my stomach!" Arf said with a big grin. "Why don't we take a break?"

"Sure, let's do that," Yuuno said. "You coming, Fate?"

"Ah, yeah, you two go ahead," she said. "I'll catch up to you in a bit."

"Okay, if you say so…"

X-X-X

"Ah, Admiral Lindy! Chrono!" Fate ran up to the mother-son pair. "It's been awhile since I last saw you."

"Huh?" Chrono said as he turned around. "Oh, it's you. You're still around?"

"…Eh?" Fate took a step back.

"I thought we ditched her already…" Lindy frowned. "Listen, brat, you're too much of a hassle to bother with. I don't know why we tried in the first place."

"B-But…" Fate's eyes became moist.

"Can't you take a hint?" Chrono shoved her back and she fell on her rear. "No one wants you." The two turned away and disappeared into the darkness.

"Wait! Come back!"

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha's face popped up on a screen out of nowhere.

"Nanoha! It's awful, something…"

"I just wanted to tell you that this is my last message to you. I realised I don't want to be friends with you anymore so this is goodbye. I'd wish you luck but frankly I don't care what happens to you."

"Nan… oha…" Tears streamed down Fate's face now as the other girl's image disappeared.

"Don't worry Fate!" Arf appeared beside her. "We'll be with you!"

"That's right, Fate. Please don't cry." Linith kneeled down and wiped away a tear. "Everything will be fine."

"Arf… Linith… Thank…"

"Oops, time's up." Linith snapped upright and looked at her watch. "That's all you get from us. Well, goodbye."

"Stop!" Fate reached out to the dissipating familiars. "Please don't go!"

Soon they were gone and Fate was left crying in utter darkness.

"What a foolish girl."

Fate's head snapped up and she looked into the cold, condescending eyes of her mother.

"Did you really think you'd be allowed to be happy?" Precia sneered. "Your own mother didn't love you, so how can you expect anyone else to? You're only damaged goods, remember that!"

"No… That can't be… I…"

"Everyone will turn on you! Everyone will leave you! Any happiness you obtain will be stripped away!"

"… Why?" Fate sobbed. "Why does it have to be this way?"

As she felt like she was being swallowed by the shadows a sudden warmth enveloped her. It was a familiar sensation for her. It wasn't Nanoha, but she remembered feeling it during the darkest moment of her life. That second person that was by her side, supporting her…

Light flooded into her world as her eyes fluttered open. She realised she was on a bench in the Athra where she had sat to rest a moment and apparently had fallen asleep.

"Oh good, you're awake."

Fate turned to the voice and her face almost bumped into his. She realised it was Yuuno and he had his arms lightly around her. She just stared at them dumbly.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Yuuno quickly let go and scooted away. "You were taking too long so I came to find you. It looked like you were having a nightmare, so…"

"… You don't have to bother with me…" Fate said under her breath. "I'm not worth it…"

"What are you saying, Fate? Of course you are!"

"… You might say that now, but eventually you'll get sick of me and leave me… Just like mother and Linith…"

"That's not true!" Yuuno put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him.

"It already happened to Admiral Lindy and Chrono…"

"What?"

"I haven't seen either of them in days and whenever I ask them to do something with me they say no… I was foolish to think they cared about me…"

"You're wrong, Fate," Yuuno said firmly. "They have been really busy lately but that's exactly because they care about you!"

"… What do you mean?"

"Right now they're busy getting ready for your trial. They're putting their all into it so you won't be harshly punished. I assure you they can't wait for the trial to be over so they can be with you again."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Yuuno nodded. "Though Chrono would never say it outright that he misses you."

"I… I don't understand why they're doing this for me…"

"Because they care about you. That's all the reason they need."

"And Nanoha? Won't she get tired of sending me messages? I don't want her to stop…"

"That definitely won't happen," Yuuno said with a smile. "She's constantly thinking about you and is really looking forward to hearing from you again."

"… What about you? I'm sure you'd rather be with Nanoha and yet… You should go back to her."

"No," Yuuno said resolutely. "I'm not going back without you. When I see Nanoha again you'll be there too."

"…Why do you bother with me?"

"That's an easy one." Yuuno's smile grew. "Because we're friends."

"… We are?" Fate blinked.

"O-Oh, am I being too presumptuous?" Yuuno's face fell. "If you don't want to be friends, then…"

"No, that's not it," Fate said quickly. "I'm sorry, I'm still not used to this making friends thing…" The words of her first friend replayed themselves in her mind. In order to be friends with some one…

"That's okay, just take things slowly." Yuuno smiled again. "We have plenty of time. I just want you to know that Nanoha, myself, and all the others won't ever hate you, and we won't disappear on you either. I promise."

Fate felt her eyes tearing up again, but realised they were tears of sadness. She let them fall and managed a big smile.

"Thank you, Yuuno."


End file.
